Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has announced the 2012 closing dates for applications to Sound & Vision II [The Broadcasting Funding Scheme] during 2012.

The Broadcasting Funding Scheme aims to increase public access at national, local and community level to television and sound broadcasting programmes in English and Irish which explore the themes of Irish culture, heritage and experience, in contemporary or historic contexts. The Scheme provides funding to broadcasters and independent producers to enable them to produce such programmes.

Four open rounds will be operated during 2012, each with funding of up to €3.5m available towards the production of television and/or radio programmes. The closing dates for the rounds, which will accept radio and television applications, are as follows: 27th January; 13th April; 13th July; 14th September.

The revised round structure has been developed based on stakeholder feedback. The increased number of closing dates is intended to make it easier for applicants to submit fully developed projects at different stages throughout the year.

Speaking about the announcement, Michael O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the BAI said, The Authority is delighted to be able to make between €12-14 million available for new, quality programming in 2012 especially given the funding challenges that the broadcasting sector is facing. In recent years the competition for funds has understandably increased. To secure funding from the scheme, applications must be fully developed and ready to go into production.

In addition, the Authority is highlighting the fact that funding a diverse range of programming, in terms of genre and formats, is a strategic objective of the Scheme. This will be measured within individual rounds and across the year. The BAI expects that the new round structure will help the Scheme to achieve a greater mix in this regard.

Sound & Vision II is a grant funding scheme – not a commissioning process. The BAI hopes that the shorter timeframe between closing dates will increase the standard of the applications being submitted in any one round. We also believe this new approach will allow the Scheme deliver to a greater extent the core scheme objectives of increasing audience access to high quality programmes across a range of genres and formats, said Michael O’Keeffe.